PLANET ALGOL

Monday, January 12, 2015

# Appearing: 1-8(1-20)Armor Class: 7Movement: 120(40)Hit Dice: 1+1Attacks: 2 fists 1-4/1-4 or improvised missile 1-4Special: +4 on saves versus Fear; regenerate 1 hp/turn; wrestling. Intelligence: Low-AverageAlignment: NeutralSize: MMorale: 11Treat as: Fighter 1The male counterpart to the Amazons, Fighting Men are a human subspecies with a single masculine gender (they reproduce exactly as you would imagine). Fighting men are burly, generally hairy, and usually wear sandals or fur boots with a leather loincloth and some sort of leather and metal harness. They love fighting, and are quick to start swinging their fists. They have a tough, leathery hide and are capable of crushing blows with their massive calloused fists. When (and only when) they are unable to reach an opparent they can improvise a missile weapon from any reasonable object with the range of a thrown spear. They get +2/+10% on any rolls involving wrestling, grappling, unarmed tripping, breaking objects, etc.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

I whipped up an oldschool D&D conversion of the 4e Avenger. No flavour text, but Google and all.

THE NEMESIS (Fighter Subclass)
Requirements: Lawful Alignment; Intelligence and Wisdom of 13, Dexterity of 15
Prime Requisite: Intelligence and Wisdom 15 or greater, +10% experience points
Weapons: All melee, crossbow, javelin and sling.
Armor: No armor or shield
Experience Points: As Paladin
Hit Points: As Fighter
Benefits:
Effective Armor Class as a Monk of the same level.
+1 on all saving throws.
At 3rd level gain the ability to turn and affect undead etc. as a Cleric two levels lower.
Find Traps, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Hear Noise and Climb Walls as a Thief of the same level.
Nemesis Oath:
-Once per combat you may select one enemy within 50' to be subject to your Nemesis Oath.
-If the enemy is slain or reduced to 0 hit points you may select another enemy to apply Nemesis Oath upon.
-If you are in melee range of the subject of your Nemesis Oath, and they are the only enemy adjacent to you, you gain a +4 to all melee attack rolls against them.
-If the subject of your Nemesis Oath willingly moves away from you, you gain +2 damage on all attacks against them until the end of your next turn.
-Once per combat you may allow one ally who is within 50' of you to make an attack with +4 on the to hit roll against the subject of your Nemesis Oath. This ability does not refresh if the subject of your Nemesis Oath is killed or reduced to 0 hit points.

Otda'Btatle, rumoured to be a Hezrou demon who became mighty through constant, gruelling combat, it the Petty Toad-Demon-God of Battle, worshipped by berserk and martially minded batrachian beings such a Ranine, Batrachians, and Tsathar. It stands 8 feet tall, bears a bear of ram-like horns on it's head, wears a spiked black harness, armbands, and kneepads, and it's mottled green-and-tan skin is covered with lurid pustules, buboes, sores and rashes.

Otda'Btatle is a Demon, is only damaged by magical weaponry, and takes half damage from cold, electricity, fire and gas. It can teleport without error, cause darkness in a 15' radius, gate in a Type II Demon with a 90% chance of success, Cause Fear (as a wand), levitate (as a 16th-level magic-user), detect invisible objects, and telekinesis 600 lbs. of weight.

Otda'Btatle prefers to punch and kick opponents, but can ram opponents if it has 40 feet to charge at them, at +4 to hit, and if it strikes the target must make an open door roll or be flung 10-60 feet backwards. If they strike and obstacle they will take 1-6 points of damage for every 10 feet of trajectory remaining.

Those struck by Otda'Btatle must make a saving throw versus poison or contract a disgusting skin ailment that covers the victim in livid acne and rashes, and reduces their charisma by 1-4 points until the ailment is cured.

Otda'Btatle will always aid chaotic or evil frog or toad beings in battle, for all other beings a 2d6 roll determined it's reaction:

2 - Otda'Btatle goes into a berserk frenzy and attacks, gaining +2 on all attack and damage rolls, and it's morale becomes 12

9-11 - Otda'Btatle demands an offering of one sentient being to devour; if this offer is declined it attacks. If the offering pleases Otda'Btatle it may it may be amenable to bargaining to perform a service, ones involving slaughter preferred, in exchange for more victims.

12 - Otda'Btatle loom, glares, and croaks balefully for 1-6 rounds; if an offering is provided it will be open to further negotiations as above.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

In 1st ed. AD&D there's the Reaction/attacking Adjustment awarded for the highest (and lowest) 3 scores. This provides a modifier to missile attack rolls and also adjusts how many segments the character is surprised for.

The cool thing about this is that with this adjustment high dexterity characters could be surprised for zer oor less segments, and therefore not be surprised.

Now, if you don't use surprise segments, but you like the mechanic of high dexterity characters' pantherish reflexes allowing them to avoid surprise, what you can do when the d6 are thrown and the party is surprised is subtract the characters' dexterity bonus from the monster side initiative roll, and if that sum of that operation is equal to or less than the party's surprise roll, then the character isn't surprised.

Or you could just roll a d8 "Surprise Save", that I crunched the numbers for using the AD&D guidelines, and ignoring weird AD&D corner case where a monster isn't surprised because the party is more surprised, and got this:
Dexterity Missile Attack Modifier - d8 save to not be Surprised
+1 - 1/d8
+2 - 3/d8
+3 - 5/d8

You can streamline the process by having the DM or one of the players make the Surprise Save for the high-dex members of the party.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

When a thief has enough experience points to attain 8th level they can choose to prestige class into Shadowdancer; they lose any progression past 7th level thief abilities in backstabbing, climb, pick locks, and remove traps; they do not gain the ability to use scrolls; and they lose any future stronghold or follower benefits. They keep the same hit dice, attacks and saving throws, and gain the following benefits at the following levels (as per the 3E Shadowdancer Prestige Class):

Prerequisite: When a seventh level thief has gained enough experience points to advance to 8th level, and they wish to become a Shadowdancer, they must unabashedly perform The Dance of Shadows for the other players' and the DM's entertainment in order to qualify for this class.

Or, if your game uses them, the character must blow a non-weapon proficiency or skill on Dancing.